Interview with Dr. Sara Allen on Energy Medicine for the DyingBalancing and Aligning the Energy Systems.

US born, Sara Allen, PhD, is a doctorate level holistic health practitioner. She has studied extensively food as medicine, as well as supplemental & herbal medicine. Her specialty is a particular self-brand of energy medicine – best described as a combination of ancient Chinese and East Indian modalities that are systemized via Energy Kinesiology. She is deeply skilled in Eden Energy Medicine, Pranic healing, Touch for Health, EFT, Advanced Psych-K, Animal Energy Medicine and she just cannot stop talking about the fascinating world of German New Medicine

In this interview we talk about applying energy medicine in the process of dying.

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How much prior knowledge does one need to have about energy medicine, in order to understand the many layers that are involved in the application of it ?

Sara Allen: My manual on how to balance and align the energies for the dying is the only piece of intellectual property I endlessly give away to family members or anyone else involved in the process.
The feedback I get from people is simply that they are so grateful, because when you’re sitting at that deathwatch and think there is nothing you can do, there is this helpless feeling;
while knowing simple techniques, like putting a finger at the elbow or finger at the ear, can make someone feel better or diminish the pain.

Most people can’t see Chi or can’t see colors. Yet, they can imagine putting the color purple on someone, one of the techniques we will be showing; and help people feel better and observe their response. It is really powerful.
From the 8 to 10 years that I have been doing this, I’ve experienced that novices really feel good about being able to contribute to their loved ones’ passing in a positive way. Energy Medicine gives them tools to work with and takes away that feeling of helplessness.

How about terminology such as ‘source point’ is; or how to strengthen or sedate a meridian; or even what a meridian is for that matter?

Sara Allen: I teach 2-day workshops at schools for hospice nurses in the US. They do not have energy medicine or acupressure or yoga backgrounds, but they are able to translate it.
Let’s take the source points as an example. There are very good diagrams on which you can locate these. They offer probably some of the most profound methods to help the dying and its just very simple for people to sit there for 5 minutes and hold those points, without the knowledge that they are using one of the most ancient pieces of our entire physiology and energy anatomy.
The novice can sit next to the advanced practitioner and both of them will go away with whatever they need to know. When I do teach this course to advanced practitioners, my language is not much different.

The attitude in our society towards the process of dying often evolves around extending life as long as possible, even against the odds, medicating it to the very end or heavily sedate the process. Is it correct to say that you speak of it as supporting a transition?

Sara Allen: It is not so much a transition. Dying is not a disease. It is a reunion with your perfection. If we are conscious on that deathbed, it is an extraordinary experience that can give a feeling of fulfillment. When you experience the separation of the Yin and the Yang; which is what the process of dying is; when the weight of the world, which is the Yang, begins to lift and the worries and duties of the Yin begin to go back to the earth; one shrinks and the other expands. Your soul begins to expand and you see things as in an eagle’s flight; you see the bigger picture. Not only do you get to live through that experience as you are meant to, everyone around you gets to witness it as well. The wisdom that gets imparted by those who are sitting by your bedside as you go, is indescribable. You are talking with all of the collective unconscious at that point.

In your experience can energy medicine replace the use of for instance morphine?

Sara Allen: It is actually part of my mission to talk about this to doctors and nurses involved, for in many hospice facilities in the US and perhaps in Europe as well, the situation is that when a patient for instance refuses chemo therapy, the insurance company drops the care.
The only thing I can say is that we do not use any medication. Energy medicine does not push the body in any specific direction; it allows it to be in its own rhythm. Dying has its own rhythm. When you align with that- keeping in mind that pain, discomfort and disease is a misalignment with the laws of Chi and keeping in mind that medication can cause misalignment,- you will find that the energies will start to move better. And by that I mean that even while your physical vitality starts to diminish, your spiritual vitality starts to expand.

What I would like to add to this is that it is very difficult to talk about the process of dying without involving the spiritual component. The way I see this spiritual component however, is from a scientific viewpoint.
It is my personal belief that the modern day physicists will be the next shamans. Spirit is a physical vibration that can be tracked. It can be enhanced and infused. The political changes in China took a lot of spirit out of ancient Chinese medicine, on which a lot of Energy Medicine is based.
Modern day practitioners in Chinese medicine use different approaches. In some ways a lot of the essence of it has disappeared, so you really have to go back to the ancient methods. There are acupressure points that treat Spirit, already known for thousands of years. The difference today is that presence of Spirit in our world has become a quantum physicist discussion.
In all the years I have done this work; there has not been one single session, where I did not use Spirit points. Disease is a separation from your Spirit, for the Spirit does not ever get sick. Spirit does not ever carry any disease. So when we align with that piece of us, that’s when healing starts to happen. Our true rhythm, our true purpose, our true understanding of who our soul is, why we came to this earth, all these metaphysical discussions that sound religious, are actually beginning to be quantum physics questions.

What skills in general does it take, to help people in their process of dying?

Sara Allen: Every body’s death is as individual as their thumbprint and their needs. Simple energy tests to determine what process they need, what food they need, are a start. What we need to remember is that the body of someone in the process of dying is no longer vital; it’s the Spirit that is vital. The general questions you will ask when energy testing are: Will this enhance the process? Is this what this person needs? Their bodies hold all the answers; they come fully equipped.We don’t have to know anything. The people dying don’t know most of time, but their bodies are totally conscious; the body is totally present. Finding out through energy testing what their bodies need, is how I would answer that question.

How much do you need to understand of the process of living, in order to understand the process of dying?

Sara Allen: Dying is a part of living. It is a living process. You are still alive when you are dying. It almost sounds as if I am being a smart aleck when I say it this way but you are still alive till you are not. So your body has needs, your body has reactions, just as it has when you are vital; it’s just that it is not about your vitality any more.
I would say that the most important distinction is that it is about your Soul’s vitality. Dying may be the last phase of living; but it is not the end of life, put in a philosophical perspective.

Question 7: The attitude towards the process of dying has frequently changed throughout history and is very different in several cultures; varying from having all loved ones gathered around and involved in the process of dying, to isolating the dying person. What are your views on this and where do you think we stand in Western society at this point of time?

Sara Allen: It is so frequent that I get guilt ridden messages from family members of my clients, maybe even 70% of the cases, who have spent hours, if not days at the side of the dying and then they go for that one shower or that one cup of coffee and their loved one only dies when they are not there. What is happening there is that the physical presence of that family member is anchoring the body of the dying person; so they can’t take off.

The big difference between the commonly used medical procedures, where dying is seen as a process of deterioration and treated as such (basically extending that process of deterioration), and the approach I talk about; is that we switch vitalities.
We switch from physical vitality to spiritual vitality, spiritual in the quantum physics manner of understanding as previously outlined. Then you are in this concept, where you have this celebration, this remembrance; this consciousness; imparting all this wisdom. When the dying person is actually in that space and consciousness of being in two places at once, which is what starts to happen. I’ve seen people get out their notebooks and just ask the great questions about the essence and meaning of things; as you have access to that knowledge. In turn, the people dying feel valued, recognized, are able to share the experience and the people they are leaving, feel touched. It is still vey very sorrowful and sad, it is still separation from the living; but it’s a way to build a legacy that could otherwise be missed.

What if the person dying is not ready to accept such a state of being? What can you then do for them then to participate in their process?

Sara Allen: First of all, I have no judgment whatsoever on what people choose to do in their process. If somebody wants chemotherapy to extend life as long as possible, or whether they want morphine to sedate the process, then that is what they should choose to do. Part of the ‘drug death’ as I call it, is pain and fear of pain. In Energy Medicine pain is really seen as energy that is stuck. There is a choice; an alternative to the pain. You loose nothing by initiating these techniques and then switching to morphine if you have to. Again however, when people have said all they can say, and have made that choice, then that is as deep as they want to go. It will be interesting to see, how people who have been working with Energy Medicine for a long time during their lives; using it on themselves to align their energies as much as possible, will go through this process.

Can energy medicine be used in combination with compassionate euthanasia?

Sara Allen: The biggest discussion why compassionate euthanasia – which is a much better term for it than assisted suicide – is illegal in most of the US, is that they do not want someone to turn the morphine up for the wrong reasons. The idea that there is so much medication involved, raises the question if we would notice when it was falsely used and that is a worthy argument.
In energy medicine techniques we do not use medication. Energy medicine follows the natural rhythms of the body. The thing about these techniques is that when you are not ready to go, they will not let you go. You cannot kill anybody with these techniques. There is a lot of things we can do with Energy Medicine to ease the suffering and some of those techniques could well overlap the techniques used for aligning the system of the terminal ill, but you have to be ready to go.
In fact, I often quote the example I witnessed of a man who was thought to be in his last hours. He suffered from dementia and during life had not been into energy medicine or any such things at all. He had quite a controlling personality and displayed aggravated behavior. When the Energy Medicine technique of applying color was used on him, he recovered real quickly and asked for breakfast only a few hours later. Energy Medicine techniques will always support the vitality that the body is in, you are going to be better either way. You are going to be more vital, either in your soul or in your physical body.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ingrid Schippers

“ I am a hunter and gatherer for as long as I remember, searching for answers in my head, my heart and in the world.
All knowledge, insights and experience I have acquired in my search, come together and enrich my practice as energy counselor. By combining knowledge that is as ancient as humanity with daily practical physical and energetic exercises, I help my clients to maintain and strenghten their physical, mental and spiritual energy, and to gain more insight in the patterns in their life that lead to more happiness and well-being.” More about my background »

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'Nan Yar' Life Counseling

Ingrid also offers personal card readings and group training in Nan Yar Life Counseling, where you (learn to) undertake a personal journey to discover who you really are and what you are capable of. The central tool in this journey is the 'Nan Yar - Who am I' card game, which is based on the Tarot. The game mirrors the inner knowing you were given at birth and offer you 78 contemplations to make your world a better place.

About Ingrid Schippers

I have been seeker for as long as I remember, searching for answers both in my heart and in the world.

My explorations brought me from Yoga in The Netherlands to the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Dreamwork with Robert Moss, an Irish workshop with Carolyn Myss, Neurofeedback with Marty Wuttke, to counseling, energy medicine, anthroposophy and the game of Tarot.

What I now pass on as a yoga teacher and energy counselor is fueled by knowledge as old as humanity. While revising the Dutch translation of ‘Energy Medicine’ by Donna Eden en David Feinstein, I was captivated even more by the centuries old, practical and often very simple techniques that mobilize body, mind and spirit. With psychiatrist and anthroposophist Cees van der Kroef, I learned the ropes of the game of tarot from the perspective of ‘thinking, feeling and willing’.